Reconciliation
by Ghislaine Emrys
Summary: After Kid rescues his partner from captivity, both men have to deal with the effects of Heyes' ordeal. Sequel to "Wretched."


**Reconciliation**

by Ghislaine Emrys

It didn't take Kid Curry long to reach the campsite. After tying the reins of the horses to a low-hanging tree branch, he carefully maneuvered Hannibal Heyes out of the back of the wagon and gently laid him near the fire that had burned out while he'd been gone.

He looked at Heyes for a minute, then spread the blanket from Heyes' bedroll on the ground. He reached into his own saddlebag for a bar of soap and a towel, and took some clean clothes and another towel from Heyes' gear. When everything was ready, Kid picked Heyes up and carried him down to the stream, along with the items for washing. Slowly, Kid undressed his best friend, who moaned occasionally but made no other sound.

Kid used one of the towels to sponge the filth off Heyes' body, lathered him up thoroughly with the strong lye soap, rinsed him off, and repeated the process to make sure he was scrubbed clean. Although the water was cold, it did not wake him. Wiping him dry with the other towel, Kid then dressed Heyes in fresh clothes. He noted the rope marks around his wrists and ankle, and his eyes narrowed.

Back at the campsite, Kid built up the fire. Heyes hadn't woken and now he lay as close to the warmth as Kid thought safe.

Kid threw the clothes Heyes had been wearing into the flames, the soiled towel quickly joining them. He watched as they burned, as the shirt and the pants and the long johns and the towel became smoke and dissipated into the sky. If only the memories could be extinguished as easily, Kid thought.

Turning his back on the image of Heyes tied to a bed in a ramshackle cabin, having been caught by a bounty hunter and left to die, Kid focused on helping his partner recover from the ordeal.

"Heyes. Heyes, wake up. Come on, wake up; just for a little while, okay?"

There was a slight movement from the man lying on the ground. Kid reached around and put his left arm under Heyes, propping him up. With his right hand, he pulled his canteen closer and removed the top.

"That's good. Come on, Heyes, open your mouth. You need to drink some water." Kid held the canteen against his friend's lips and when Heyes began to open his mouth, Kid tipped the canteen so Heyes could drink. A little water went in his mouth but more dribbled down his face. "That's good; just a little more, all right?" He tipped the canteen again and Heyes swallowed, more of the water going down his throat this time. But when Kid tried a third time, Heyes turned his head away and grunted.

"All right. It's enough for now. Get some sleep, okay?" Kid removed his arm and settled Heyes back on the blanket. He got out his own blanket and covered Heyes.

For the next few hours, Kid watched Heyes sleep. It was not a restful slumber. Heyes moaned, tossed and turned, cried out. Occasionally, Kid heard his own name being called and he realized that Heyes was not even aware Kid was right there.

Finally, exhaustion overpowered Kid and he fell into a deep sleep filled with nightmares of chasing after an elusive bounty hunter who was always just a town ahead, and a beat-up saloon girl whose voice he could never leave behind.

Kid woke with the feeling that someone was watching him. He slowly reached for his gun and once it was comfortingly in his hand, he rose from his bedroll to locate the danger, to find only Heyes staring at him in confusion.

He holstered his weapon and asked, "How you feelin', Heyes?"

"Kid?" Heyes' voice was weak and Kid hastened to give him some water.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Kid… That you?"

"Yeah, Heyes, it's me."

"Where…?"

"Safe."

"How…?"

"Don't worry about that. You just rest up and get better."

Heyes' eyes slowly closed and he fell asleep once more.

Kid busied himself with taking care of the horses and cooking breakfast. He didn't know how long they'd stay there but if the weather held, he didn't mind sleeping outdoors. They had enough supplies to last a week, if they were careful. He thought Heyes would recover faster if he knew they were safe from curious townsfolk and suspicious lawmen who might start speculating about why two drifters were holed up in a hotel room without any visible means of support.

When Heyes woke again, Kid was ready. He helped Heyes lean against a saddle. He held the opened canteen up to his partner's mouth but after taking only a few sips, Heyes turned away.

"Heyes, you need to drink," Kid pushed the canteen back in his face.

His partner shook his head. "Enough."

"How about some food—you up to eatin'?"

Heyes grimaced.

"Guess that's a no," Kid said. "You gotta eat, Heyes."

"Not now."

"C'mon, I made the beans special," he said, holding out a plate.

Heyes leaned away and retched. Kid was at his side immediately. "They're not that bad." Kid tried joking as he gave his canteen to Heyes, who took a sip and rinsed out his mouth.

"Sorry," Heyes said. He wiped his face with his bandana and Kid saw, again, the rope burns on his wrists. Noticing what Kid was looking at, discomfited at what the marks signified, Heyes lay down and pulled the blanket over him. "Think I'll rest a bit."

Kid nodded. "Okay. You'll feel better when you wake up." He tried to inject a note of optimism into his voice but Heyes had already fallen asleep.

Kid sat and wondered what had happened in the cabin. His partner's lack of appetite didn't overly concern him, since Heyes at the best of times didn't eat much, but he knew his friend needed to drink more water and his inability to keep it down worried him. Kid busied himself with cleaning up the breakfast things until he saw Heyes open his eyes and try to sit up. He made to go over and help him but Heyes shook his head.

"Hey," Kid smiled.

Heyes feebly smiled back. "Hi."

"Feelin' better?"

"Much."

Kid looked at him closely, frowning. "You don't have to lie to me, Heyes. I know you're still hurtin'."

Shrugging, Heyes said, "Maybe a little. But I am feeling better."

"Uh huh."

"Don't you have something better to do than stare at me all day long?" Irritably, Heyes shifted his body to a more comfortable position so he was propped against the saddle with his head leaning on the seat.

Kid turned away.

"Kid."

The blond-haired man kept his back to Heyes.

"Sorry."

"Yeah." Kid walked over to the fire and laid some more branches on it, watching the flames leap and spark as the dry brush heated up.

"Kid."

"What?" He kept his gaze on the fire.

"I could eat now."

Kid nodded and he brought a plate for himself as well and sat down next to his cousin.  
>Heyes spooned up some beans, wanting to please his friend more than he wanted to eat, and Kid noted the effort it took him to swallow a few mouthfuls. A moment later Heyes put down the plate, admitting, "I guess I'm more tired than I thought. Think I'll take a nap."<p>

"Okay, Heyes. Will you be all right if I go fishin' for a while? I'd like to have something fresh for dinner."

"Don't worry about me, Kid. I'll be fine."

Kid cast a doubtful glance at his friend. Heyes stared back, challenging Kid to contradict him. Instead, Kid picked up the plates and forks and took them back to the fire. After scraping the uneaten beans from Heyes' plate back into the pot, and rinsing both plates with water from the coffee pot, Kid told Heyes he'd return shortly. Heyes was already lying down and merely nodded his acknowledgment.

When Heyes woke again, the sky was turning a darker shade of blue as the sun slowly sank below the horizon. He rolled onto his back and could just make out the Dog Star.

Kid caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and he left the horses he'd been tending to go to Heyes' side. "How you feelin'?" he asked.

"Better," Heyes replied, and Kid could tell he meant it.

"Was something the matter with my cookin'?"

"Huh?"

"You know what I'm talkin' about."

"Well, I didn't want to leave a mess…"

"Yeah, I can see that. The shovel's right here." Kid shook his head. "Heyes, you can barely eat; what made you think you had enough strength to dig a hole in the ground?"

Heyes didn't answer, instead asking, "Where are my boots?"

"What for? You ain't plannin' to walk off, are you?"

Heyes smiled. "No. I need to…" He gestured vaguely.

"Oh."

"So where are they?"

Kid hesitated.

"What? C'mon, Kid, I need 'em."

"Heyes, I don't think…"

Heyes narrowed his eyes.

Kid persisted. "I don't think you should be wearin' them for a while."

"Why not?"

Kid didn't know if Heyes was aware of the condition of his foot, the one that had been tied to the bed. After Kid had scrubbed the grime from it, Kid could see the red marks left by the rope and a number of bite marks, whose origin he didn't want to contemplate. "Heyes, have you seen your foot?"

"What about it?"

Kid ignored the tone in Heyes' voice. "It don't look too good. It'll heal faster without a boot rubbin' it."

"Kid, I can't go barefoot until it gets better. Just give me the boots, will you, and let me deal with it?"

"Looks to me you can manage fine without them." Kid stubbornly refused to give his partner what he was asking for.

"Huh?"

"I said, goin' barefoot don't seem to have bothered you none when you fetched that shovel."

Heyes was about to say something but Kid forestalled him. "You forget what a good tracker I am, Heyes? Those footprints aren't even two hours old; had to be yours. I saw them as soon as I came back from the river."

Kid paused, then asked, "Anything else you want to fill me in on?"

"Like what?"

"Like what happened in that cabin?"

"Nothing to tell."

"Now there's a lie if ever I heard one. So you're not goin' to tell me what they did?"

"They?"

"Yeah. There were two of them. Didn't you know?"

Heyes shook his head. "No. I only saw one man. What happened, Kid?"

"I took care of them."

Avoiding his partner's narrowed eyes, Kid said, "C'mon. I'll help you over to the trees."

Heyes grabbed the hand Kid held out and let himself be guided over to a spot downwind.

Kid was grateful his partner didn't ask any more questions.

Heyes was brooding, and that bothered Kid because Heyes showed no sign of wanting to talk about it. Kid knew part of what had happened because he'd tracked his partner but he also knew Heyes was hiding something.

Kid's frustration was obvious but Heyes couldn't bring himself to let Kid know what had happened. He'd made a foolish mistake and it had almost cost him his life. He was too embarrassed about it so he stayed quiet. And brooded.

By the evening of the fifth day, Heyes' foot was almost completely healed, the rope burns on his hands were much less noticeable, and he was beginning to eat again. Physically, he was on the mend. But Heyes didn't have any interest in moving on; whenever Kid talked about where they should go next, Heyes said he was happy right where they were. Hardly anyone had passed by on the road, there was plenty of game for food, and he didn't need anyone besides Kid to talk to.

It was that last bit that bothered Kid, since it was out of character for Heyes to avoid towns. Towns where he could talk to people about local events and play poker, replenishing their funds. Towns where he could take a hot bath and sleep in a comfortable bed. Towns where he could send and receive telegrams from Lom about possible jobs and other, more important, business. It occurred to Kid that Heyes wanted to avoid what might happen when they reached the nearest town. Kid decided to force a showdown.

"Heyes, we're goin' back to town tomorrow," Kid announced late in the afternoon.

"Why? We got plenty of food. It's nice here."

"Don't worry, we ain't goin' all the way back to the town you were in before…"

"How far away are we, then? Is that why it took you so long to find me?"

Kid wasn't sure if that was an accusation and Heyes flushed when he realized what Kid was thinking, but he didn't say anything more.

"Anyway, we're runnin' out of food," Kid told him. "What if someone hears me shootin'? What am I gonna say? Howdy! This here's Hannibal Heyes and I'm Kid Curry. We're just restin' up here after I shot a couple of men so's he could escape from the bounty hunters who captured him and left him to die?" Kid shook his head. "I don't think so."

Then Kid realized what he'd just admitted. He hadn't intended to ever tell Heyes what he'd done. He hadn't wanted to burden his partner with the guilt he knew Heyes would feel.

Staring at his cousin, Heyes broke into Kid's thoughts and said, with obvious reluctance, "Reckon it's about time I tell you how I got caught."

"I was playing poker at the saloon, just passing time until you got back from your job. I was doing pretty good and no one was making a fuss about me winning so much. I'd had a few whiskeys and there was this saloon girl… Well, I decided to have some more fun and we went up to her room." Heyes stopped.

"It's okay to have some fun, Heyes. You're allowed, you know." Kid encouraged him to continue.

"But not when you're not there to watch my back. It was stupid. I was stupid. I should've known better."

"Everyone's allowed to make a mistake. Don't beat yourself up so much." Kid knew, as did Heyes, that saloon girls were notorious for spiking drinks and then robbing their customers. And sometimes doing a lot more. All in all, Kid reflected, things could've been much worse. Heyes could have ended up dead. And that was something he didn't want to think about.

"Yeah, well, it almost cost me my life. If it hadn't been for you…"

Kid smiled. "That's what partners are for. Go on."

Heyes shifted position on the log he was sitting on. His foot had healed and he was able to help out with the horses and the camp chores now. He was using his knife to cut the branches he'd collected for firewood earlier into smaller pieces. He worked one limb for a minute before continuing his story, without looking at Kid.

"We went up to her room and she offered me a glass of whiskey. I took it. Like I said, I was stupid."

Kid waited patiently as Heyes viciously whacked the branch with the knife. Let the branch bear the brunt of Heyes' anger, thought Kid. Best he let it out that way rather than on something, or someone, he cared about.

The branch turned into twigs. Heyes picked up another branch and resumed talking. "Next thing I know, I'm wearing handcuffs."

Kid briefly wondered what else Heyes was wearing, if anything. But it wasn't funny so he refrained from making any comment.

Heyes left out the details. It was too humiliating. After drinking the whiskey, they'd kissed and the girl started to undress him, pushing him onto the bed where he willingly let her remove his boots, then his pants, and then the rest of his clothes, all the while whispering how handsome he was. He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling weak-headed and very tired.

His eyes snapped open as the cuffs snapped shut around his wrists.

"Whaddaya doin'?"

"Why, Mr. Heyes, what I've done is capture you," she trilled in the voice that just a moment before had sounded so delightful.

"Well, that 'splains it. I'm not Mr. Hayes, whoever that ish." He put all the certainty he could into the rebuttal.

"Of course you are. You're Hannibal Heyes, and you're worth ten thousand dollars."

"No, my name ish Joshua Smith. Jus' a drifter lookin' for work." He held up his hands so she could unlock the cuffs.

"No, no, you're not. I'm quite sure of that." She looked at him gleefully.

"Well, you seem ta have me at a dish…disadvantage." His head ached and he couldn't think clearly.

She laughed. "Indeed I do, Mr. Heyes. Too bad I won't be able to take advantage of you," she sighed, "but business comes first."

A knock came at the door and she opened it. Heyes twisted around to see who it was but before he got a good look, he felt a blow to his head. Just before he blacked out he heard the girl demanding her handcuffs back, saying she needed them for her next customer.

When he came to, he was in the cabin, tied like an animal to the bed.

"She drugged you."

"Yeah."

"She set you up."

"Yeah."

"She knew who you were before you went upstairs."

"Yeah." Heyes sighed heavily. "I don't know how, though."

"The bounty hunters were Newt and Nate Clemens." Kid watched Heyes react to the names.

"Oh."

The Clemens cousins were notorious among outlaws. When they brought in their bounties, they were always dead, regardless of what the wanted posters specified. Heyes and Kid had had the bad luck to run across them once, years ago, but they'd managed to evade them. They heard later the Clemens boys had vowed to bring them in, that no outlaw ever escaped them forever.

As if he'd read Heyes' mind, Kid added, "The girl in the saloon was one of their informants. When you rode into town, she contacted them and they offered her one percent of the reward money for helping them."

"Oh." Heyes digested the fact that he was worth only one hundred dollars to the girl. Then, "Kid, how do you know all this? Did you talk to the girl?"

"Yeah, I talked to her." If you could call that talking, he thought.

"And?" Heyes prompted, when nothing more was forthcoming.

"She told me what I needed to know."

Heyes stared intently at his friend, who squirmed under the scrutiny. "How'd you manage that?"

"I may not have your silver tongue, Heyes, but I do know how to talk to a woman."

There was more to it than that, Heyes knew, but he stopped asking questions and after a moment, Kid continued.

When Kid rode into the town and didn't find Heyes right away, he wasn't overly concerned. He stabled his horse, got the key to Heyes' room, went up to drop off his saddlebags, then went out to eat. He figured his partner would show up in the saloon in the evening.

But when Heyes didn't appear after he'd been waiting a few hours, nursing a solitary beer despite the glares of the barkeeper, Kid began to worry. It wasn't like Heyes to go off without leaving at least a note. When the clock struck eleven, Kid decided he could officially be worried.

He bought another drink and asked the barkeeper if he'd seen his friend, giving a description of Heyes that caused the man to flick his eyes to the saloon girl over by the piano player before denying ever having seen Heyes there. Kid thanked the man civilly and using the excuse of asking the pianist to play a tune, he approached the girl and solicited her favors. She was only too happy to oblige.

Upstairs, he refused the drink she offered. "I'd prefer information to a drink," he told her.

She eyed him warily. "I'm not in the information business, honey, in case you hadn't noticed."

"I'm sure it's just a sideline. Pretty girls like you always know how to take care of themselves."

She smiled. "It's a mean old world out there," she agreed. "Lots of dangerous people around."

Kid looked at her, and decided the polite and gentle way wouldn't work. "I'll be one of them if you don't tell me what I want to know."

"You wouldn't be the first man to beat me." It came out scornfully but she positioned herself behind the only chair in the room.

"If that's what it takes." Grimly, he moved towards her.

She gripped the chair in her hands. "Wait! What do you want to know?"

"I want to know what you did to my friend, Joshua Smith. He was with you a few days ago."

"I don't know anyone by that name." Kid noted her knuckles were white as she kept hold of the chair.

"Well, the name don't matter; he's about my height, brown-haired, wears a black hat with silver trimmings. Sound familiar?"

"No."

"You're lyin'! I can tell. What'd you do to him? Where is he?"

The girl saw the determination in his face but still she tried to deny it. "I don't know!"

The room was small, Kid was angry and scared, and the girl was no match for him. Eventually, she told him what she knew.

"Then, all I had to do was track you. But the Clemens boys covered themselves well, so it took me a while to find you," Kid apologized.

Heyes absorbed Kid's tale. He wasn't sure what he saw when he looked into the eyes of his partner, the eyes of a man he used to be able to read so easily but now were shuttered and inaccessible.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"You're starin' at me, Heyes."

"Sorry." He dropped his gaze to the fire. "Thanks."

"For what?"

Heyes shrugged. "Everything."

"You'd have done the same," Kid assured him.

"Yeah, but…" Shaking his head, Heyes didn't finish.

Kid wondered what had gotten into his usually talkative partner.

A noise in the underbrush roused Kid from a light sleep but even as he reached for his gun, he realized it was only an animal making rustling sounds as it went on its way. He settled himself back under his blanket and looked over at his partner, to find Heyes watching him.

"You should be sleepin', Heyes."

There was no response from his friend.

"Heyes…"

The brown eyes, luminous in the dark, continued to regard Kid. "What?"

"What's really botherin' you? I know you're healed up. It ain't like you to want to stay out on the trail so long."

Heyes was tired but the thoughts circling round and round in his head prevented him from sleeping. Having to accept that he had only tenuous control over his life left him thoroughly discouraged and he couldn't overcome his despondency.

Maybe in the dark it'd be easier to say what he had to say. "Kid, is this what the rest of our lives are going to be like, always running? Never safe unless we avoid civilization? Is this, right here, as good as it'll ever get for us?"

Kid was so startled he didn't know how to respond. He felt like all his breath had been knocked out of him. He was the pessimistic one, doubting they'd ever get the amnesty. Heyes was always able to persuade him to keep going, convincing him that soon the Governor would keep his promise and then they'd be free.

When Kid didn't reply, Heyes sat up and faced him. "I'm tired, Kid. Tired of running, tired of sleeping in the dirt, tired of always looking for work, tired of not getting paid for the work I do get, tired of waiting for the Governor to give us the amnesty."

Kid listened to his partner, and he heard the real question Heyes was asking. "You want to forget about the amnesty? Go back to robbin' trains and banks, Heyes? Is that what you're leadin' up to?"

"No. I don't want that life anymore. But I don't think the Governor is ever going to give us our freedom. Why should he? We stopped stealing, just on the promise of a possible amnesty. How long do we have to keep proving ourselves, Kid? Sometimes I think Lom doesn't even think we deserve it. Maybe we don't."

"You want to turn yourself in?"

"No! I may have gone straight but I'm not that honest."

"Then what other choice do we have, Heyes? We just got to keep doin' the best we can and maybe one day we'll get a pardon instead of a prison term."

"You really think…?"

Unable to resist, Kid said, "I'm not supposed to, remember?"

Heyes chuckled at the old joke, as he was meant to. "But do you really think we'll ever get it, Kid? You and your gun, me and my mouth?"

"You could use your mouth for something other than spinnin' tales, Heyes."

"Like you do? That's gotten us into trouble more often than not! And another thing. I'm tired of always having to watch our backs, never being able to relax. The one time I do relax, look what happened!"

"You really thought you were goin' to die, didn't you?" Kid's voice was very quiet, sympathetic, in his sudden understanding of how deeply Heyes had been affected by his captivity.

Heyes nodded. "When I kept retching, I finally realized there was something in the food and water."

"It was arsenic." Kid answered the unasked question. "The girl told me. That was their method. When the Clemens boys captured a man, they kept him hidden while they poisoned him to death. That way, there were no marks and no questions when they brought a fella in to the law."

Heyes shuddered. "I drank it anyway."

"You had no choice."

"He never untied me, never let me…"

"I know. You stank, Heyes."

Even though there was a smile in the words, Heyes was embarrassed. "I don't remember you being there."

"You were kind of unconscious."

Heyes attempted to piece things together. "I don't know when it was but once I heard a noise, a gunshot I think, then another. Was that you?"

Kid had hoped his friend wouldn't pursue it. He didn't want to tell Heyes but Kid knew he deserved to know. They were partners, and partners shared the good and the bad. Especially the bad, because that was the only way to make things good again.

Kid had long ago learned to live with his gun but it was different for Heyes and Kid didn't like disappointing him. Reluctantly, Kid said, "I shot them."

Heyes had to ask. "Did you kill them?"

Kid braced himself. "I don't know."

Eyes widening, Heyes stared at the man sitting next to him. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I got you out of there as fast as I could. I didn't stop to check."

"Kid…"

"Don't, Heyes."

"But…"

"I said, don't."

"Just wanted to say..."

Kid interrupted. "Go to sleep, Heyes."

"Yeah, all right; good idea."

He was just about to fall asleep when Kid whispered, "It's goin' to get better, Heyes."

Heyes sought out the blue eyes of his best friend and nodded.

Then, much more softly, Heyes heard Kid say, "It's got to."


End file.
